Pearson 30 motor questions

[Pearsonistic]

Thanks all for your input.

I just found out that the price of the rebuilt atomic four is $5K plus $1K shipping plus $1K or more for install. So I'm looking at a minimum of $7K for a rebuilt Atomic four.

I also found that the rebuilds are ready and sitting on the shelf and I won't have to wait a month as I anticipated which diminishes my interest in an outboard.

Noboby thinks an outboard is a useful backup? Inboards are reliable enough, or outboards are ugly and/or unreliable?

Has anyone recently replaced a gas with a diesel? What was the real price after mounting issues, lines, etc? I'm pretty sure I'm going with the atomic four at this point, but I'd like to know what the price would have been. BTW my boat cost $13,500 minus $5K for the faulty engine.

[sailingdog]

Originally Posted by Pearsonistic

Thanks all for your input.

I just found out that the price of the rebuilt atomic four is $5K plus $1K shipping plus $1K or more for install. So I'm looking at a minimum of $7K for a rebuilt Atomic four.

I also found that the rebuilds are ready and sitting on the shelf and I won't have to wait a month as I anticipated which diminishes my interest in an outboard.

Noboby thinks an outboard is a useful backup? Inboards are reliable enough, or outboards are ugly and/or unreliable?

NO, outboards aren't particularly useful on boats that were not designed with them in mind initially. The transom would probably need some significant reinforcement to support an outboard for propulsion use, and the outboard is likely to come out of the water in any kind of heavy weather... which is most likely when you would want the "backup" engine to work, since the primary problem most boats have with their in-board engines is gunk stirred up from the bottom of the tank and clogging the fuel filters in heavy weather. This is also far more of a problem with diesel, which can have algae grow along the water/diesel interface if any water is present in the tank. That generally doesn't affect gasoline as a fuel.

[SEMIJim]

Originally Posted by Pearsonistic

Noboby thinks an outboard is a useful backup? Inboards are reliable enough, or outboards are ugly and/or unreliable?

I don't know about "unreliable." I suppose they're about as reliable as any other engine if they're properly maintained. But I don't know how useful one would be on the back of a P30:



Notice how her transom is well out of the water and is raked forward a bit? Mounting an outboat back there that will actually be effective is going to take a bit of engineering. Plus, like I wrote earlier: You're going to destroy her lines in the rear. Your boat. I wouldn't even consider it. I don't even like the swim ladder back there--but it came on the boat and it is handy for getting in and out in the water.

Originally Posted by Pearsonistic

Has anyone recently replaced a gas with a diesel?

I'm curious: Why would you want to do that? Personally, if I bought a more recently-manufacturered boat with a diesel engine, I'd be wondering about the costs to re-power with gasoline.

Jim

[seabreeze_97]

[quote=Pearsonistic;362386]Thanks all for your input.

Noboby thinks an outboard is a useful backup? Inboards are reliable enough, or outboards are ugly and/or unreliable?

You have a backup of sorts, they're called sails. Actually, that's backwards. The engine is the backup. Failing that, break out some oars.

[Xosh]

Someone asked what kind of diesel I had in mine. It's a Westerbeke 10. I JUST bought the boat 2 weekends ago and worked on it all this past weekend. Long and short story. I duno what's wrong with it. This is my first "big" boat and the first time i've ever touched a diesel. So it's a learning experience.

The previous owner said he re-powered it a few years ago and I duno if the hour meeter is correct, but it only reads 179hrs. With a few days work I was able to get the engine to turn over and get all the cockpit gauges to work. I checked the electrical and I think the starter switch is bad (we had to "jump" it off the starter) and I think the solenoid is bad. I couldn't get any juice to the glow plugs...so I duno. I also think that there may be an issues with my raw water pump, but...what the heck do I know.

We stopped progress because in the midst of turning over the engine the packing gland started a pretty serious drip and I freaked out and said that's enough. I HAVE to move the boat (it's on a private mooring and a new boat is coming) a few hours south and don't have the time or $ for the engine to be fixed/replaced. So.....I go cheap. In time and with more $ it will all be back to normal. Pretty classic lines and all.

~Josh

[countrybumpkin]

I don't want to hijack pearsonistics thread and will start a new one if need be, but I'm in a similar situation. I bougt a Cal 2-27 that has a 12hp Universal diesel. It looks to be in great shape. The PO had is running 2 years ago right after he bought it. He said the mechanic had it on a travel lift and fired it up with a garden hose for cooling. He got it running but then i bogged down and choked. They hypothesized that old cruddy fuel clogged the injectors. The PO didn't want to wait for a fix so he bought a 5hp Merc and a motor mount in the meantime. I want to go back to using the inboard diesel. I am very mechanically inclined and want to do the work myself, but never did any work on a deisel. Does anyone have any advice on where to start? I don't want to pull the engine if I don't have to mess with the exhaust, transmission and linkages.

[imagine2frolic]

I lived with the Atomic Bomb for 17 years with 4k miles of cruising too. If you can change a tire. Then you can pull the bomb out of the boat.

Mark, and realease the wiring harness. Remove the transmission after releasing the shaft. Use the main halyard to hold up the boom over the hatch, and then attatch a block, and tackle to the same point. Guide the motor up off the mounts at it is lifted off the mounts. Pull the motor up all the wayover the companionway, and swing it out over the dock to the waiting dock cart. 2 hours tops in work, and add an hour for thinking.

Buy a used motor that starts for $1k +or-. Have it rebuilt completely for under $4k. All these other prices are insane. They are asking for $3k, or more for 4-6 hours in work. I had my motor rebuilt for $3.5k new crank, and all.

If you go with the bomb again. All you have to do is make sure the blower is working everytime, and open the steps to check before starting. It's a great motor. Tune-up parts are a/c delco, and cheap. Don't get tune-up parts from a marine store. These motors are also put in the tens of thousands of forklifts, and go by the name of Universal......Let us know how it goes......BEST WISHES....i2f

[gravy26]

This past summer my A4 died while I was on a trip. I went the route of installing a motor mount on the transom and put my 1 yr old 9.8 Tohatsu( 20" shaft) on it.
As mentioned, the outboard on the back is not pretty but it did get me home and used it for the remainder of the summer.
I could turn the boat around on a dime turning the engine & rudder at the same time.
The one big problem I had was in rough seas the prop would come out of the water. We were headed into the Mystic river from Fishers Sound which can get quite turbulent and with the prop coming out of the water so often our headway was slow not to mention the motor revved pretty high.
So, in mild weather it's fine - pushed the boat at 6 knots, but when things get rough and you really need the extra power, it's not there.

With the boat on the hard, I am in the process of pulling the engine for a rebuild. I think I lost one of the bearings.

This is my 2nd boat and 1st inboard so a big learning curve.
I love the way the boat handles though...

1973 P30 # 475
"Pharon"

[Pearsonistic]

An update to the A4 saga:

I had a mechanic pull the old motor and install a rebuilt one from moyer marine. The price was about $8,000 and I removed all the cabinetry myself which took several hours. One downer was that it took a month to get the job done because the mechanic was not on the job as quickly as I would have liked. There was a $1,000 shipping fee (part of the 8,000) and $1,000 in labor and parts with a new exhaust riser. Now I'm cruisin'. If I had it to do over I would have tried to do it myself, but this was my first boat and everything was new to me (I didn't even know what an exhaust riser was). In the end I was pretty involved in the process and spent alot of time following wires and hoses and figuring out what was what and where everything went. At this point there is very little mystery to the whole thing. One thing I really appreciate now is the motion of the transom above the water in swell and I am happy to have a propellor a couple of feet beneath the boat. The montery bay can be abit rough at times.
Thanks to all for your advise and comments. This is a really valuable forum.

[DrB]

Someone is selling a used but running 27 HP Volvo MD11C diesel for no money.

Here is the ad. It isn't me, but it's a bargain if anyone needs one.

Marine Diesel Engine Volvo MD11C - $1200 (Scituate)
Reply to: sale-976433607@craigslist.org [?]
Date: 2009-01-01, 1:45PM EST


Used running engine with transmission, mounts, panel.approx 27 h.p.




* Location: Scituate
* it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests